


Displaced

by Tavadriel



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Angst, But not Yakov's, Coaching, Gen, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, My First Work in This Fandom, Please be gentle, Tag Suggestions Welcome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 11:05:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8622139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tavadriel/pseuds/Tavadriel
Summary: Why is Yakov so furious and dismissive of Victor as a coach? Where does all that anger and meanness come from?
Takes place during episode 6.





	

Hot pot. The night before a major competition.

 

Then again, maybe he should have gone. He could have stopped that picture getting out –

 

– no, Victor was no longer his responsibility. Victor had given up a good chance at a 6th Grand Prix medal to go play coach, out of the country no less. Chasing another of his _surprises_ no doubt.

 

Yakov sighed. Poured himself a sparkling water in the (futile) attempt to pretend it was something stronger.

 

No more medals. Didn’t Victor realize what that meant? What could be blown over or quietly ignored in a reigning champion would most certainly _not_ be so in retirement. A good coach stepped out of the spotlight in favor of their student(s).

 

Didn’t Victor know _any_ history? Two, three years ago – or worse, further back – and not even those gold medals would have been enough –

 

Then again, maybe Victor should be the one talking. That press conference. Yakov’s body froze, as if he’d been run over by a Zamboni. What if _Victor_ had confessed like that, on camera, sure to reach international attention during the lead-up to the Grand Prix?

 

And that Japanese skater just had to use _that_ one of Victor’s old costumes. “Representing the masculine and feminine” while being way too pretty with that long, long hair. And that frill ~~skirt~~ ruffle. Another of Victor’s _surprises_. One he just couldn’t ignore.

 

A haircut wouldn’t be enough. So he had swallowed his pride and called Lilia. Asked her to find women, willing women, all dancers, to date the young champion, to sweep him off his feet. Ones who understood all too well the dangers when a man was just too pretty, too open, too obvious. Or a woman, aware of the same dangerous questions one just didn’t want thought about.

 

For that onsen ice (hyped-up) “challenge”, fine. But after? One would think that the Japanese couldn’t provide a costume for the comeback star. Yuri, that was tribute to the older skater, a symbolic passing the torch from the retiring champion to the new hope for continued accomplishments. But a foreign national? Bad enough that Victor was not competing himself, but to coach for another country? There _went_ any tolerance of Victor’s antics and displays.

 

(Georgi could be an evil witch. Georgi had an ex-girlfriend with dozens of lovey-dovey pictures to prove it.)

 

Yes, yes, Victor had done well for the former last-place dropout. It’s not like Victor could apply that – methodology – to any other skater. (Even Victor had to see that, right?) Yet Yuri had come back with new fire, that was true –

 

Yuri was still underage. With Victor being – as he was – it was far, far better to have an ocean between them as much as possible.

 

If he had to choose, to throw one of them to the wolves to save the rink, the team, the whole lot of them, then he wouldn’t even hesitate. If the most talented skater that he’d ever known was going to throw away all caution and sanity to the winds, so be it. Being a coach, a real coach, required making the hard decisions, required taking care of their students, to keep them safe, to keep them skating, to bring out the best in them. To save them from themselves, if need be.

 

He couldn’t save Victor any more.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So this came out from seeing Yakov’s reactions to Victor as over the top, really by a lot. Especially in the beginning of episode 6. But it wasn’t until I was trying to explain this show to my friends – that plus reading fanfic – when it occurred to me. Anger can very, very easily be displaced fear, and what little I’ve read of the history of homosexuality in Russia is pretty scary.


End file.
